A country where farmers, women, saints, soldiers and the gomata (holy cow) cannot lead a peaceful life will always be in the grip of chaos.

This was the line 37-year-old Amol Kale used to motivate Parashuram Waghmare into allegedly killing Gauri Lankesh on September 5, 2017. Kale was the commander of the group police hold responsible for the murder; his statement is part of the 9,235-page charge-sheet submitted by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to the special court handling the murder case.

As per the charge-sheet, Kale told SIT that it was one of Gauri’s essays – in which she argued that Hinduism was not even a religion, it was just an orphan – that sealed her fate. He said that she had made some derogatory comments about Hinduism in a couple of other articles too in her paper. It was because of her views that Kale’s outfit labelled her a ‘Durjan’ (evildoer) and decided to eliminate her, the charge-sheet claims. It also claims that Kale paid Rs 10,000 to Waghmare for killing Gauri Lankesh and also celebrated her death two days later in Belagavi by distributing sweets among the people involved in the murder.

SIT has said that Kale refused to sign the 12-page statement but it provided interesting insights into how the gang planned and executed the murder. Of the 16 accused arrested by the SIT, only Kale and his co-accused Amit Degwekar refused to sign the statements enclosed in the SIT charge-sheet.

“Kale is the most motivated operative among the accused. He is not physically strong but he is a tough nut to crack. He does not reply to anyone and spends his time chanting and meditating in custody,” said a source.

From an engineer to engineering a murder

Kale studied BE mechanical engineering from Pimpri-Chinchwad College of Engineering and was employed with a globally leading firm that manufactures diesel and natural gas engines before he decided to dedicate himself to his ‘cause’. In 2003, Kale -- a ‘happily married engineer’ and a father of a three-year-old boy – met a couple at a temple in Pimpri who spoke to him about the greatness of Sanskrit. Kale told the SIT that the chat left a deep impression on him and he started reading more books on Hinduism, including Kshatra Dharma Sadhana (a publication of Ponda-based Sanatan Sanstha); he started working in a spiritual bookstall and sold books like Sanatan Prabath Patrika.

“I would become depressed if someone insulted Hinduism and get this urge to react violently,” he allegedly told SIT.

The commander gets recruited

In 2008, Degwekar spotted Kale at a satsang in Kalna village of Sindhudurg and the duo hit it off – they started travelling across Maharashtra, attending spiritual events. SIT claims that at this point of time Kale became active in Hindu Janajagruthi Samiti. He also got close to Kaka, former editor of Sanatan Prabhat who is no more, and another key operative identified as Vikas Patil alias Dada. At Kaka’s behest, he went to Ramnathi Ashram in Ponda where he met Dr Virendra Tawde alias Bade Bhaisaab (Tawde is an accused in the murders of Govind Pansare and Narendra Dabholkar; he got bail in the Pansare in January last year). Tawde had formed a ‘revolutionary’ group of youths to save his religion and establish Hindu Rashtra. Their modus operandi for recruitment was identifying the potential recruit; conversing with him about Hinduism; collect his mobile number and invite him for various public functions and satsangs; and once the recruit’s ‘calibre’ was known, he was to be exposed to the inner working of the group.

The group came up with code words -- ‘event’ for any assassination, ‘sahithya’ for pistol and ‘tuition’ for weapon training session. A codename was assigned to each member of the team -- often derived from a physical trait, occupation or the Bollywood star he resembled. Rajesh Bangera alias Sir of Madikeri trained them in karate, firearms, and bomb manufacturing in Kolhapur. That year was 2014; in 2016, Tawde was arrested and Kale emerged as the new commander under the codename Bhaisaab.

.

‘Builder is more courageous than Laundry and Vada Paav’

In 2013, Kale met Sujith Kumar alias Praveen (from Shivamogga) at Hubbali bus stand and Manohar Edave alias Manoj (of Vijayapura) in Belagavi. They were asked to identify and recruit youths from the major towns, including Bengaluru, of Karnataka.

In June 2016, Sujith Kumar brought three youths -- Builder, Laundry and Vada Paav -- from Vijayapura district to meet Kale. Kale took a liking to Builder and gave him a ‘crucial task’ a year later.

“Builder was very courageous and motivated to protect our religion. He was also implicated in a criminal case (for hoisting the Pakistani flag in Sindagi, Vijayapura, to fan communal tensions),” the SIT charge-sheet says.

Some of the other youths already taken into Kale’s team included Ganesh Miskin alias Mithun and Amit Baddi alias Govinda from Hubbali. Sharad Kalaskar alias Chhotu, a youth recruited by Tawde, started working at a fabrication unit in Udhyam Bhag industrial area with the intention of making crude weapons.

‘Teach Hindus speaking against their own religion a lesson’

Kale was not satisfied with the recruitment drive in Karnataka and in July 2016 he convened a review meeting with Dada, Sujith and Manohar Edave at a park near Belagavi Fort. Sujith allegedly told Kale that in Karnataka people like Girish Karnad, Gauri Lankesh, Professor Bhagwan, Chandrasekhar Patil (Champa) were very vocal against Hindu religion and also showed some video clippings of their public events. They said that it was because of Hindus speaking against their own religion that their drive was not picking up momentum.

“We decided to eliminate these ‘Durjans’. Initially, a three-pronged approach was suggested to tackle them in which their property and source of income should be targeted, followed by inflicting physical injury and then eliminating them,” reads the statement.

Within a month, the group unanimously decided that out of the identified targets Gauri Lankesh was the most vocal ‘Durjan’.

Events leading up to the murder

Kale met with HL Suresh who had worked as a teacher in Mangaluru in March 2017 and instructed him to collect details about Gauri. He also instructed Miskin and Baddi to conduct a recce of Gauri’s house and track her daily routine.

After the duo studied her movements, it was decided that “the best opportunity to finish her was when she returns from work and gets down from her car to open the gate of her house”.

In May 2017, Manohar Edave was asked to identify security cameras installed near Gauri’s house, her neighbourhood and also a get general sense of traffic and pedestrian movement along the route leading to her house. Kale also gave him Rs 5,000 for this task. Suresh was then given Rs 30,000 to rent a house in Bengaluru for their operatives to stay and store their weapons. Meanwhile, Naveen Kumar from Maddur was given the responsibility to get a pistol and rounds. But he failed and Kale arranged for two pistols and 12 bullets to be brought to Bengaluru through Kalaskar. In August 2017 it was decided that Waghmare would shoot Gauri and Miskin will take him to her residence and also act as a back-up shooter. They were given firearm training at Belagavi with the help of a local resort owner Bharat Kurne, also known as Uncle.

In August 2017, Kale, Miskin, Baddi and Waghmare moved into Suresh’s house near Yeshwantpur. On September 2, a stolen black bike was brought to Bengaluru from Davanagere and a final rehearsal conducted.

The D-Day

As planned, Miskin and Waghmare arrived at Gauri’s residence on September 4 but Gauri had reached home early that night. So they returned on September 5 and pumped four bullets into her. All of them left Bengaluru within 24 hours and the weapons and bike were taken to Belagavi after 10 days.

Kale was arrested on May 21 last year from near Davanagere private bus stand while he was waiting for Sujith Kumar.

Kale’s lawyer reacts

Kale’s defence lawyer dismissed the statement as false. “It is nothing but a cock and bull story. If these people killed Gauri then where is the gun? Where are the other evidence? These statements which is claimed to be made before cops will not stand legal scrutiny,” said NP Amruthesh, part of Kale’s legal team.

Recent Messages ()

Please rate before posting your Review

OR PROCEED WITHOUT REGISTRATION

Share on Twitter

SIGN IN WITH

Refrain from posting comments that are obscene, defamatory or inflammatory, and do not indulge in personal attacks, name calling or inciting hatred against any community. Help us delete comments that do not follow these guidelines by marking them offensive. Let's work together to keep the conversation civil.